The collapse of Soviet communism gave reason to the Vatican political choices in opening up to Russia and Eastern Europe. The new Ostpolitik announces a new world without geographic or confessional delineations. Pope Francis pushes the Church towards the peripheries and towards the high sea, as St. John Paul II had hoped. Part III of an expert analysis.

The Vatican’s latest openings to China resemble the path traced by the old Ostpolitik of Card. Agostino Casaroli. Then as now, the Holy See’s moves have provoked and provoke disagreements, criticism and charges of forgetting the persecuted Church and human rights violations. Casaroli himself had doubts about his effectiveness, although he was eager to implement the dimension of dialogue, rediscovered with the Second Vatican Council. Part One.

At the Angelus, Pope Francis emphasizes that Lent is a time of "spiritual training" to overcome evil in us and around us. "In our life we ​​always need conversion, and the Church makes us pray for this". "Only God can give us true happiness: it is useless to waste our time looking for it elsewhere, in riches, in pleasures, in power, in careers". The invitation to young people to participate - even online – in the meeting in preparation for the October Synod. Message of affection to prisoners. A remembrance in prayer for the beginning of the Roman Curia’s spiritual exercises.

In an attempt to please China, several commentators dare to conceal or manipulate the teaching of the Church. The Church's mission is linked to support for human rights and commitment to society. Jesus never challenged the Roman Empire, but created a revolution. Msgr Romero defending the poor and the Church, had to face the military junta. A comment by John Mok Cit Wai.

Fasting is "stripping oneself a little"; maybe thanking the Lord because we are able to fast: "poor people", they must fast because they do not have anything to eat "and you even despise them ". Do penance in peace: "You cannot talk to God on one side and talk to the devil on the other" because it is inconsistent.

From March 19 to 24, the Pre-Synodal Meeting will prepare a document that will flow into the working document of the Synod. An encounter to "listen" to young people. To participate concretely through social media, young people will simply have to go to the website www.synod2018.va, where they will find the link to register with the Facebook Group of one of the 6 languages ​​provided.

The ages in the priesthood, with their peculiar characteristics, risks and potentialities were the subject of which Pope Francis spoke today to the clergy of Rome gathered in the Basilica of St. John Lateran for the traditional meeting of the beginning of Lent.

In celebrating Ash Wednesday, Francis calls on the faithful to look and contemplate "the real face of Christ crucified out of love for everyone, without exception” and to “Return to the house of your Father”.

Continuing his catechesis on Mass, Francis spoke of the Creed and the Prayer of the faithful, recalling Christ’s monition: "ask and you will be given". "We do not ask for this, because we have little faith, but if we had the faith Jesus speaks of, we would have everything". It a time to ask for the important things. But "the claims of worldly logic do not rise towards Heaven, just as self-referential requests remain unheard".

Unlike "defeat" and "resignation", Christian patience is the "virtue" of "those on a journey". "And when you go on a journey, many things happen that are not always good. The attitude of parents when a sick or disabled child is born, tells me so much about patience on the journey. 'But thank God he is alive!': These are the patient people".

The Church's contribution to the country, especially in education, was discussed. So was the government’s commitment to peaceful coexistence between the various religious communities and defence of minorities and refugees.

During the Angelus, Pope Francis said that today is the World Day of the Sick. The pontiff also registered via the Internet for World Youth Day in Panama in January 2019, and mentioned that 23 February will be day of prayer and fasting for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Experience shows that such modern forms of slavery are far more widespread than previously imagined, even – to our scandal and shame –within the most prosperous of our societies," he told the "Santa Marta Group".

"And here is the problem of the weakening of the heart. When the heart begins to weaken, it is not like a situation of sin: you commit a sin, and you realize it immediately. “I have committed this sin”; it’s clear. Weakness of the heart is a slow journey, that slides along step by step, step by step, step by step…".

The President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences exalts China as the best implementer of the Churches’ social doctrine. The bishop seems oblivious to the shantytowns of Beijing and Shanghai, the expulsion of migrants, oppression of religious freedom. Appreciation for the Paris Climate Agreement, but silence on the links between wealth, corruption and pollution. An ideological approach that makes a laughing stock of the Church.

The chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, back from a trip to Beijing, exalts China as a country where the "common good" is the primary value; where "there are no slums" or drugs, where the environment is respected. Not like the United States of Donald Trump. "Many meeting points" between China and the Vatican.

Francis' message for Lent titled: "Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold". The false prophets are "snake charmers" who offer moments of pleasure disguised as happiness, that make us slaves of money, "charlatans" that offer simple and immediate solutions to suffering, from drugs to "disposable" relationships, to "a completely virtual life" that robs human relationships of meaning.

The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong comments on some statements and publications of the past few days, after the declaration of the Vatican press office on the "presumed difference of thought and action between the Holy Father and his collaborators in the Roman Curia on issues relating to China". The accusation of Card. Zen: the Letter of Benedict XVI to Chinese Catholics is only partially quoted. Comfort to the faithful of the underground communities forced "to enter the lion’s cage".

The Turkish president meets Francis: the situation in the Middle East and the need to "promote peace and stability in the region through dialogue and negotiation, with respect for human rights and international law". Beyond the cordial climate and the good relations existing on the diplomatic level, there no full religious freedom in Turkey.

In front of the glory of God, words disappear, we do not know what to say, added Francis. As it is said in the liturgy of tomorrow, Solomon, in fact, can only say two words: "listen and forgive". And the conclusion is "to worship in silence with all the history on and ask:"Listen and forgive ".

At the Angelus, Pope Francis invites Christians and all people of goodwill to pray for peace for the world and especially for the Democratic Republic of Congo and for South Sudan, afflicted by violent civil wars and millions of refugees. The question: "What can I do for peace?". "Victories gained through violence are false victories; while working for peace is good for everyone ". The miracles of Jesus and the awakening of faith in the people he meets. The streets are the place of the mission for the Church "under the sign of going out". The beatification of Teresio Olivelli, martyr in the concentration camp of Hersbruck. The Day for Life.

On World Day of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis tells consecrated men and women that “we can never leave others behind, never pass over generations, but must accompany one another daily, keeping the Lord always at the center.”

The “intellectual” leaders of the Islamic State continue to justify the enslavement of non-Muslim women as part of the "spoils of war". In doing so, they go along with many of today’s Muslim scholars. Conservative circles have put up a resistance to an historical and contextual re-examination of Islam’s sacred texts. This is the second part (out of three) of an analysis by Imam Hocine Drouiche. The first part was published yesterday.

A priest of the official Church, recalls the 88 year old bishop that the Vatican wants to replace with an illegitimate bishop, to please the regime. Mons. Zhuang Jianjian became an underground bishop at the behest of the Vatican in 2006. Card. Zen and Msgr. Zhuang, image of the faithful Church, "which provokes an immense sadness and a sense of impotence". The hopes of card. Parolin to console "the past and present sufferings of Chinese Catholics".

"I am not the master of time", "repeating this helps", recommended Francis, because "it saves us from that illusion of the moment, of taking life as a chain of interlinking moments, which makes no sense".

Francis dedicates the general audience to the liturgy of the Word. One listens to what God has done and still intends to do for us. "We need to listen to it! It is indeed a matter of life ". It demands our attention, no to chatter and no to "subjective choices", no to substituting the Word with irreverent texts.

The pastor who, like Jesus, "ends his weary day", tired of "doing good" will make the people feel the presence of God. "The pastor must be anointed with oil, the day of his ordination: priestly and episcopal . But the real oil, the inner oil, is the oil of closeness and tenderness ".

"Humility is not justifying oneself immediately in the face of an offense, trying to look good:" if you cannot bear a humiliation, you are not humble ". "This is the golden rule". And "if someone is brave, he can ask, as St. Ignatius teaches us, he can ask the Lord to send him humiliations, to more closely resemble the Lord ".

Founded 25 years ago by Shanti Rani Sisters and PIME missionaries in Rajshahi, the facility is open to the mentally and physically disabled, deaf, blind, orphans, poor, and abandoned. The guiding principle is to start them in life.

After losing to Sweden in their last match, the Korean team ends up in seventh place. Players burst into tears at their imminent separation. "Politicians made that executive decision [to have a joint team]. Our players and staff are the ones that made it work,” said the team’s proud Canadian coach. One South Korean athlete hopes the country is proud of them. "It was bigger than hockey."